الرياض ,المملكة العربية السعودية

Question:There is a village with a relatively large population. It has a spacious Masjid (mosque) where a group of righteous people offers the five congregational Salaahs, for it is the only Masjid in the village. Despite its being able to accommodate a large number of people, it is always vacant as not all villagers maintain the congregational Salaah there, except for few righteous people.

This dedicated group has seceded from the villagers and admonished them about their Bid`ah (innovation in religion), to say nothing of their differences and negligence in performing their religious obligations incompletely and incorrectly. These villagers adhere to the Teejaaniyyah Sufi order.

The small (righteous) group has decided to abandon congregational Salaah behind the Imaam of the village, who is not qualified to lead because he adheres to the villagers’ corrupt Teejaanee creed and encourages their well-known polytheistic gatherings wherein they go beyond the boundaries by deifying the Prophet (peace be upon him).

As a result, the new group decided to build a Masjid that is not far from the first one where they can teach their followers the principles of Tawheed (Oneness of Allaah), sound Aqeedah (creed), and warn them against Bidah and superstitions. Many young men among the Teejaanee have now joined the new group which the villagers accuse of being mavericks.

They claim that the new Masjid is “Masjid Diraar” (established by way of harm), even though the group has a Shaykh who graduated from Al-Zaytunah (University) and specialized in Malikee Fiqh (Malik’s School of Jurisprudence). What is the ruling on this newly established Masjid? Can it be branded as “Masjid Dirar”?

What is the ruling on resisting the Tijanee’s? What degree of Imaan (Faith) do they have? Is it permissible for a student of knowledge to try and rectify this deviant Teejaanee sect from within their Masjid, while keeping away from the other group that follows the Truth to avoid Fitnah (temptation/trial/sedition) resulting from the establishment of the new Masjid? Should a student of knowledge stand with the minority righteous party and leave the others?

Answer: First: If the situation is as mentioned – that is, the only Masjid in the village is controlled by followers of the Teejaaniyyah Sufi order who practice Bid`ah and superstitions, and that the righteous group has resisted their acts, but they have not responded; resulting in the righteous group leaving to establish a Masjid to offer prayers in …Etc. Then, this Masjid is not Diraar… read more here.